Titanium dioxide is a substance which is widely used as a paper filler, or pigment, and as a pigment or extender in paints, plastics, elastomers, soap bars, cosmetic formulations, paper coatings, and other compositions. When used in such applications, it is employed in the particulate form which permits it to serve its desired function, and the particles are typically particles of titanium dioxide prepared by one of the two processes conventionally used for its production, i.e., the sulfate process and the chloride process.
The use of particulate titanium dioxide as a pigment results in a waste of much of the titanium dioxide, since it is only the titanium dioxide at the surface of the particles which serves the pigmentary function. Moreover, the manufacture of titanium dioxide by the sulfate or chloride process creates enough waste to be an environmental concern. It would thus be advantageous to provide a pigment which could serve the functions now served by titanium dioxide particles without requiring the use of as much titanium dioxide.
It is known to use titanium dioxide and/or other pigments with a zeolite, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,220,567 (Kindervater et al.), 4,752,341 (Rock), and 4,874,433 (Kiss et al.); and Domenech et al., "Cyanide photo-oxidation using a TiO.sub.2 -coated zeolite," Chem. Ind., Vol. 18, page 106, 1989, teach that titanium dioxide employed for a different purpose, i.e., as a photocatalyst, can be supported with 3 .ANG. molecular sieves. However, a method of combining the pigment and zeolite so as to make efficient use of the pigment and/or the pigment source has not previously been available.